No. 16 Simon Fraser Falls to No. 6 Colorado

SAMMAMISH, WA – Despite outscoring CU in three of four quarters, a lop-sided 10-2 second quarter by the No. 6 University of Colorado Buffaloes would hand No. 16 Simon Fraser their fifth loss of the 2011 season in a neutral site contest at Eastside Catholic High School in Sammamish (Seattle), WA. Six freshmen once again got the start for a young SFU squad that has seen all five of their losses come at the hands of opponents ranked in the MCLA's Top 12.

Six different players contributed multi-point performances in a 14-goal effort for the Clan, including a career-high 6 goals from sophomore attack Colton Dow (Coquitlam, BC/Heritage Woods Secondary) who continues to lead SFU on the season with an impressive 4.714 points-per-game. Rick Bezuidenhout (Campbell River, BC/Timberline Secondary) – 2g, 1a, Calvin Craig (Coquitlam, BC/Gleneagle Secondary) – 2g and Eric Ransom (Sherwood Park, AB/Bev Facey High School) – 2G each chipped in with 2-goals, while Stu Mills (Campbell River, BC/Timberline Secondary) and Chris Tessarolo (New Westminster, BC/New Westminster Secondary) recorded a goal and an assist in the loss.

Playing in front of approximately 250 northwest lacrosse fans in attendance who braved a rainy night to see two of the MCLA's top teams go toe-to-toe, Colorado and Simon Fraser did not disappoint early on as the teams traded goals for most of the games' opening 15:00 minutes. The Buffaloes struck first, with the Clan responding after each CU goal until Bezuidenhout's second of the game, scored on the man-up, put the Clan ahead by one at a score of 5-4 heading into the second quarter.

A back-and-forth first quarter would quickly turn to all Colorado in the second frame as the Buffaloes scored seven unanswered goals to break the game open at 11-5 and establish a six-goal lead. Senior captain Chris Tessarolo stopped the bleeding at 11-6 before Dow closed the gap to four with just over 5:00 minutes left to play in the half. Despite the Clan rally, CU continued to fill the Fraser net in the closing minutes of the first half, scoring three more times to cap-off a 10-2 second-quarter-run and take a 14-7 advantage heading into the intermission.

Looking to shift the momentum, SFU freshmen Darren Zwack (Sherwood Park, AB/Archbishop Jordan High School) replaced sophomore Kyle Middleton (Nanaimo, BC/Woodlands Secondary) in between the pipes for the Clan to start the third quarter action. A resilient Fraser squad seemed to respond well, as Dow and Ransom scored back-to-back to open the second half scoring and give the Clan new life at 14-9. Colorado re-extended their lead back to six before another pair of SFU goals, this time from Mills and Dow, closed the CU lead to four at 15-11. The Buffaloes would add one more before the end of the third quarter, giving the Clan a 4-2 edge out of the break but still down by five at 16-11 with only 15:00 minutes left to play.

Fraser would continue to chip away at the second quarter deficit, with freshman attack Calvin Craig striking first for SFU to start the fourth quarter and put the Clan back to within four at 16-12. That would continue to be as close as SFU would get, as the Buffaloes would score two more times, followed by Dow's fifth and sixth of the contest for a final score of 18-14.

Zwack was impressive in relief, stopping 8 of 12 Colorado shots on goal in the second half for a .667 save percentage. Sophomore Bradley Macnee (Ridgewood/Ridgewood) played all 60:00 minutes in net for the Buffaloes making 11 saves with 14 goals against (.440), while senior attack James Blackburn (Princeton, NJ/Hun School) led CU with a game-high 7 points on 3 goals and 4 assists.